With Courtney Struble now missing for over seven years, the RCMP says it has a working theory on what led to her disappearance July 9, 2004.
Cpl. Rob Zentner of the RCMP's historical case unit said officers have come "a long way" since they joined the investigation in 2009 and are continuing to work towards a resolution.
"We believe we have a pretty good idea as to what has taken place, it's just a matter of tying up some of the other loose ends that are out there," Zentner said. "Obviously our ultimate goal is to find Courtney, get her home and proceed with a court process. We'd like to return her to her family because they have gone many years here without their loved one around and as part of that process, find out the circumstances as to what happened, where she went all of that."
Courtney's disappearance has been one of Saskatchewan's most high profile mysteries since she vanished in 2004. It has been well documented that Courtney and some friends were watching a movie at the Estevan Veterinary Clinic on July 8. Shortly after midnight on the ninth, Courtney, who was 13 at the time, decided to walk home and has not been seen since.
The RCMP became involved in 2009 when the HCU picked up the case from the Estevan Police Service and went to work. In a previous interview, Zentner said the HCU spent roughly a year going over the evidence collected by local police and then began an active murder investigation that is still ongoing.
Although their efforts have not led to finding Courtney or any arrests, Zentner said the HCU is continuing to make moves towards a resolution.
"Nothing moves as quickly as we would like but we are definitely moving forward," he said. "We are very hopeful that we will be able to bring the matter to a successful conclusion if you can term it that way and find out where Courtney is and obviously if people are responsible for the events that took place then we want to hold those people accountable."
Zentner noted that officers have been in Estevan conducting interviews recently and would be back in the City this week for further interviews. Although he cannot go into details, Zentner said through their interviews and other work, officers are confident they have a pretty good understanding of what happened to Courtney at the time she went missing.
"We are working towards confirming that or if there are elements that are incorrect we want to correct those and make sure we have the actual accurate account of what has take place."
